


Mystery of the Heart

by yanjunsdimples



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not Idols, M/M, Murder Mystery, but like a lighthearted murder mystery?, detective!yanjun, dry cleaner!zhangjing, ive never written murder mysteries before sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-25 22:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14986595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yanjunsdimples/pseuds/yanjunsdimples
Summary: detective yanjun knows he should stay professional and not fall in love while working on a murder case. but zhangjing is making it hard, really, really hard.





	Mystery of the Heart

“Cai Xukun, age 19, found on the rooftop of his apartment block on Monday, two days ago. He had two stab wounds - one in the left chest, one in the stomach. Declared dead on scene. The case is yours.”

“Thanks, Chaoze.”

Picking up the file that had been carelessly dropped on his desk, Yanjun sighed, slightly annoyed that the police had given the detective agency their third case this week. He’d have to call up Dinghao later to tell them to stop handing them jobs, as all his coworkers were either busy handling a case, or had foreseen the incoming mountain of work and had applied for leave. Yanjun drummed his fingers on his wooden desk impatiently, briefly skimming through the information on the papers before he leaned back in his chair and let out another sigh. The dimmed lights of his office surrounded him in shadows as he stood up to grab his coat, being sure to turn the lights off and lock the door as he left the room.

 

 

 

Half an hour later, Yanjun had arrived at the address of the victim’s apartment, where the prime suspect also lived. Stepping out of his car with his files tucked under an arm, he approached the intercom and entered the apartment number, which emitted a crackling noise before a clear voice cut through the air.

“Hello, who’s this?

“Is this Mr Wang Ziyi? I’m Lin Yanjun, from Sea Lion Detective Agency, I've been assigned to the murder case of Cai Xukun, your boyfriend. I’m here to ask you some questions to get started with the case, if that’s alright with you.”

A click was heard as the gate unlocked and Yanjun pushed it open, walking briskly towards the elevators and pushing the button for the fourth floor. He soon faced Ziyi as he reached the door of his apartment, greeting him with a nod and a “Nice to meet you, Mr Wang. Thank you for agreeing to cooperate with the agency, I hope this case will be solved quickly.”

The two settled on the couch in the living room, Yanjun’s files placed beside the two cups of coffee on the table in front of them.

Turning to the man beside him, Yanjun cleared his throat, “Let’s get started and not waste any time, shall we?” At the nod he received in response, he turned back around the pick up his folder of files. “So, Mr Wang-“

“Just call me Ziyi,” the taller interrupted, nerves clear in his anxious expression.

“Alright Ziyi, please just call me Yanjun. I’d like you to understand that due to the ambiguity surrounding the murderer, you have been placed as a prime suspect,” he paused to look Ziyi in the eye, "I have a very brief overview typed up here from when the police handled this case, but I’d like you to recount what happened.”

The next few minutes are spent with Ziyi rambling about what happened that day, while Yanjun jotted notes down in his notepad. Yanjun learns that they were coming home from a date that day, and had planned to relax on the rooftop of their apartment together afterwards. Ziyi needed to drop off some things in their apartment, and had told Xukun to go ahead to the rooftop before him. Ziyi recalls heading up to the rooftop around late-4 or early-5pm, where he found Xukun on the rooftop floor, a few steps from the elevator, surrounded in a pool of blood. In a panic, he hadn’t believed the sight before his eyes, instead wandering around the apartment complex, in a cold sweat, knocking on each door and asking if they had seen Xukun. 

“Do you recall anybody acting particularly suspicious?” Yanjun inquired, tongue peeking out from his mouth and he hurriedly noted down Ziyi’s words. 

“Listen, I don’t want to sound like I’m targeting any one person, but,” Ziyi leaned forward, closer to Yanjun, “I think it might be Zhu Zhengting, who lives on the floor above us. He’s Xukun’s ex-boyfriend, and they didn’t exactly part on good terms after their breakup a year ago. I saw him enter the apartment while we were driving home, but when I rang his door he didn’t answer.” Yanjun nodded, deep in thought, and asked Ziyi to confirm the notes he had written briefly. 

“Oh, I’m not sure if this is important, but I’ll tell you in case it gives you more leads,” Ziyi started, Yanjun raising an eyebrow in curiosity. “Before we walked into the apartment building, we stopped by the dry cleaners right across the road to drop off some clothes from a party we attended a few nights earlier,” Ziyi stood up and pointed to the building through the window, “There, that one - Azorachin's Dry-Cleaning. I’m not sure how useful this information will be, but he handles most of the dry-cleaning in this apartment block, so he knows everyone who lives here.”

Yanjun nodded, adding the store name and details to his notepad. “Thanks, Ziyi. I might head over there to ask the owner some questions now, if you’ll excuse me. I’ll be coming by to update you on details and ask you more questions within the next few days.”

With that, he stood up from Ziti’s couch, directing a curt nod to the taller man, and headed to the dry-cleaning store.

 

 

 

The pleasant twinkle of a wind chime filled the room and alerted the owner as Yanjun stepped into the small store. He looked around the brightly-lit space, taking in the pristine white walls, the quiet hum of washing machines in the back, the slight citrus smell that an air freshener on the countertop provided. Yanjun’s eyes were drawn to the shop owner as he looked up from the counter, meeting Yanjun’s eyes with an enthusiastic gummy smile, “Hi, welcome to Azorachin’s Dry-Cleaning. What can I help you with today?”

Perhaps Yanjun was hallucinating from his recent lack of sleep, but he could have sworn the man standing before him was an angel gracing the earth. His smile lit up the already-bright room, smooth skin looking soft to the touch, his frame a perfect size for hugging, curly brown hair begging the detective to run his hands through it. Yanjun had never believed in love at first sight, but he may have to reconsider that after this encounter. As Yanjun’s eyes trailed to the name tag pinned to the smaller man’s chest pocket, his jaw dropped. 

“You Zhangjing? Did you go to Banana High School? Are my eyes deceiving me?”

The man across from the counter tilted his head and let out a soft laugh, Yanjun now truly believing that he was in the presence of an angel. “Yes, I did actually. You are?”

“Yanjun, Lin Yanjun. We were in the photography club together, but I was in the grade below you, so I’m not sure if you remember me.”

The detective had to resist his urge to squish the older man’s cheeks as his eyes widened and mouth turned into a perfect ‘o’. “Yanjun! Of course I remember you, or should I say - I remember half the girls in the school crushing on your good looks,” Zhangjing let out an amused chuckle, “I haven’t seen you around this neighbourhood though, so what brings you here today?"

Briefly letting the man know of his detective job and situation surrounding Xukun’s murder leading him here, Yanjun took the chance to confirm, “Ziyi told me you know pretty much all the residents of his apartment building, is that true?”

“Yeah, I could probably identify all the people living there just by their formal clothing. I pride myself on being the most affordable dry-cleaning service around here, you know."

“Alright, cool. Can you confirm that two days ago, Wang Ziyi and Cai Xukun stopped by here to drop off some clothes, around 4 or 5pm?”

Satisfied with the nod he received in response, Yanjun flashed a killer smile, remembering how much Zhangjing had loved his dimples back in high school. “Great, thanks Zhangjing. I have to get going now, but we’ll definitely be seeing each other more from now on, and hopefully you can help me out with this case!”

As he pushed the door open to leave, Yanjun couldn’t seem to stop himself from sneaking a peek back at Zhangjing and smiling uncontrollably as he strolled to his car, the clear weather washing a wave of warmth over him. But surely this was only due to having reunited with an acquaintance from his high school days, right?

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: i know zero to nothing about detectives uh the most i know is from bungou stray dogs which is also pretty inaccurate, so please dont come for me if u see something super inaccurate yikes
> 
> ive been waiting to start writing this for aGES skdjfh special thank u to ar for helping me out with the idea ♡ more tags will be added as the story progresses and hopefully i won't take too long to update.. but no guarantees
> 
> also im sorry for killing u off kun but u were the easiest to use for tension between a bf and ex-bf oops
> 
> find me on [twt](https://twitter.com/breadforyanjun) or [cc](https://curiouscat.me/breadforyanjun)


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